Official Luthiers Forum!

Advise on how to extract a busted Schaller Mini screw head from a Maple headstock?
Conventional easyouts are too small.

Thanks very much

BlackStrat buddy do you have a picture of the broken screw that you could post to help the pro repair guys understand what they are dealing with?

Thanks.

These puppies work pretty well:

http://www.hartvilletool.com/product/10864

You can also make your own with brass tubing and jeweler's or machinist's files. Cut a plug to match, align the grain and you are good to go. Post a pic and good luck with it.

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

I am attempting to show some photos....

http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd3/ ... rbuilding/

I recently broke off a Gotoh screw on a geared tuner base. Finished neck with nitro. The hollow mills made too big a hole that would not be covered by the tuner base. What I did was to mask off the hole with several layers of low tack drafting tape so only the hole was visible.
I then used some small pointed diamond burrs on a dremel to create a divot in the end of the screw and laboriously reamed the screw out with a combination of small drills and burrs.
It gets pretty hot around the screw and you have to watch that. I then plugged the hole with a piece of mahogany. The process enlarged the hole a little but the tuner base still covered it.
I was not putting any real pressure on the screw when it broke. Those Gotoh screws are a bad design with a smooth area between the head and the first threads. A real stress riser if there is any defect in the metal. I won't use them again. The Waverly screws are threaded right up to the head. I think that's better.
Good luck, if you are patient I think you can ream it out.
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Just saw your picture. Mine was different, it broke off deep inside the headstock. You might be able to get this one by enlarging the area around the screw and gripping it with a pointed pin vise. The brass tubing idea is a good one to enlarge the hole if you can find some in a hobby shop that fits closely around the screw.
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

In trying to find the "pointed Pin vice"...all I could find on the internet were just "pin vices"....not pointed pin vice...
Where can I find the "POINTED" pin vice?

Thanks very much...

Blackstrat,

These should do the job without messing up the wood. I'm sure you can get the equivalent in the US.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Those look to be way too big for a tuner screw Dave .... unless the smallest is about 30 thou.

If you cant get the screw out, I have done this in the past ... drill a small hole right next to the broken screw, towards the tuner casing so it will be covered. Take an awl, and force the broken screw over into the new hole area. Now a new screw will be able to go into the original hole, and the tuner will mount correctly.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I was thinking of something like this that has a tapered collet. The more taper the better. We had a broken screw extraction system we used in the OR that had a pointed collet but you might have to settle for a tapered one. Tony's idea sounds good too. Let us know what you do!

http://www.progresstool.com/pd_tube_holder.cfm

Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I took it to a friend who owns a machine shop.

He put it on a high dollar drill press and bored out the old shaft.

So precisely was the bore out, another tuner screw actually fit in the hole with no further need for doweling/drilling etc....

Thanks to one and all for your quick and intelligent responses...

Great idea! I'll remember that.
TJK

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.